{"id":2773,"date":"2026-05-08T17:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2773"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:32:18","slug":"david-attenborough-the-excited-but-hushed-voice-of-nature-programs-turns-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2773","title":{"rendered":"David Attenborough, the excited but hushed voice of nature programs, turns 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DANICA KIRKA<\/strong><\/p>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 The BBC is hosting a party for David Attenborough at the Royal Albert Hall. Cinemas are playing his nature films. Friends have spent weeks lavishing praise on the man and his work.<\/p>

Read more Suspect in White House correspondents\u2019 dinner attack seeks recusal of top Justice Dept. officials<\/a><\/p>\n

But the world\u2019s most famous wildlife presenter is likely to be uncomfortable with all the attention as he celebrates his 100th birthday on Friday, said Alastair Fothergill, the producer of some of Attenborough\u2019s most well-known documentaries and the director of Silverback Films.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been very clear to all of us that work with him: \u2018Remember, the animals are the stars, I\u2019m not,\u2019\u2019\u2019 Fothergill told The Associated Press. \u201cSo, yes, surprisingly for one of the most famous men on the planet, he doesn\u2019t like being famous at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glorious gorillas<\/h4>\n

But Attenborough has had to accept the accolades this week as scientists, politicians and conservationists celebrated the man who has brought frolicking gorillas, breaching whales and tiny poisonous frogs into living rooms around the world for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n

Through BBC programs such as Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants and The Blue Planet, Attenborough has illuminated the beauty, ferocity and sometimes downright weirdness of nature in a hushed melodic voice that conveys his own awe at what he is witnessing.<\/p>\n

Viewers who might never leave their hometowns were transported to the Himalayas, the Amazon and the unexplored forests of Papua New Guinea. But behind the stunning images was an attention to scientific accuracy that helped teach people about complex subjects like evolution, animal behavior and biodiversity.<\/p>\n

And as the evidence mounted, he began to sound the alarm about climate change, ocean plastic and other human-caused threats to the planet.<\/p>

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That helped people understand not only how life evolved but, more importantly, why we have to protect it, said Professor Ben Garrod, an evolutionary biologist at the University of East Anglia and himself a broadcaster who has worked alongside Attenborough.<\/p>\n

Attenborough, Garrod believes, initially saw himself as a neutral observer but was compelled to speak out when he saw that politicians, business leaders and the public weren\u2019t taking the emergency seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is showing you the majesty, the ferocity, the fragility of the natural world. He shouldn\u2019t have ever had to have turned to policymaking and advocacy,\u201d Garrod said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very easy for a lot of people to say, \u2018He should have done it sooner. Why didn\u2019t he act 20 years, 30 years, 40 years ago?\u2019\u201d Garrod then asked: \u201cWhy didn\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>

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